The Mysterious Struggle of Torgny Mogren: Heart Problems and COVID Battle

Torgny Mogren looks at the small hill up to the press tent at Alpe Cermis.

– That will be difficult, says the 60-year-old.

The former skiing king now lives in a painful mystery. Something is wrong with his heart – but no one knows what.

And in an investigation, everything went wrong.

– I lay there and felt that I was going to die any second, says Torgny Mogren.

Torgny Mogren has commented on the Tour de ski on site for Radiosporten

Photo: Mathias Bergeld/Bildbyrån

Torgny Mogren won WC gold in the five mile in Falun in 1993.

Photo: Erich Stering/TT

Torgny Mogren in Uppsala in the summer of 2023.

Foto: PELLE T NILSSON / SPA | SWEDISH PRESS AGENCY

It is Sunday afternoon. Tour de ski is over and at the finish area up the slalom hill in Val di Fiemme, Torgny Mogren and colleague Johan Bengts start packing up to start the journey home to Sweden.

The duo from Radiosporten have commented on the competitions as usual. But for the expert Torgny Mogren, life is now different.

The only question is what happened?

– I have no idea, says the WC hero from Falun in 1993.

He has previously told about the heart surgery he was forced to have in 2021. A heart valve had stopped working but could be repaired after emergency surgery.

– Afterwards I probably had to stay in the hospital for 17-18 days. And just take it easy, they had broken open the entire chest anyway. But gradually I had to start moving. First go out and walk, then run and also cycle.

Mogren continues:

– Everything just got better and better.

Didn’t recognize myself after covid

But six months later, a new, heavy chapter began in Torgny Mogren’s life. He was affected by covid around New Year – and after that he did not recognize his body.

– I tried to start training. But it just didn’t work. So I had to take it easy, tried again to start during the summer – but it didn’t work then either.

During the fall and winter of last season, however, Mogren began to feel better. And when the skiing WC in Planica was to be decided in February, he was there as usual for his job at Radiosporten.

– Then I thought it had let go. I felt quite fresh, so I set off for a turn with skis on the WC track, says Mogren.

– I set off a bit downhill from the stadium. Not very long at all before I turned. But then it just stopped. I made it maybe 25 meters up the hill before I got so much lactic acid that I wasn’t going anywhere.

What did you feel then?

– I was really scared. Thought “How the hell am I supposed to get back?”

Yes, what did you do?

– In the end, by walking sideways I was able to slowly, slowly make my way up the hill and back to the stadium again. But it was three, four steps at a time. Then I was allowed to rest.

SKIING ICON. Torgny Mogren is interviewed by Expressen’s Tomas Pettersson during the last day of the Tour de ski.

Photo: PHILIP GADD

Contacted healthcare

No one but those closest to them knew what had happened. Torgny Mogren completed the championship in his role as an expert.

But when he landed in Sweden, he made direct contact with the Academic Hospital in Uppsala.

– Since then, I have been there for five or six major examinations, Mogren says.

But one of them was going to end really badly.

– They entered through a vein in the neck and down into the heart to test some stuff. But somehow they hit a nerve – and the heart began to race. It felt like it was beating 400 beats a minute.

– I just screamed straight out”Now something is happening! Now, now, now…”’

Torgny Mogren shakes his head as he stands in the snow at the top of Alpe Cermis.

– I felt like I was going to die any second. It was really scary. And a moment later the same thing happened again.

But neither that study nor any of the others have found the answer to why his body oxygenates so poorly.

How would you describe your form today?

– If I tried to go up Monsterbacken in Falun, I wouldn’t get more than 10-20 meters. Then it’s a dead end, says the five-mile world champion in Falun in 1993.

– It’s enough to walk a little fast up a flight of stairs and I get lactic acid in one go. It’s so fucking scary. Actually crazy.

So what happens now?

– When I get home from the Tour de ski, there will be new examinations. But if it finds nothing wrong with the heart, it must be something else. Maybe the lungs.

Then Torgny Mogren says:

– I just want them to find what’s wrong with me.

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2024-01-08 05:31:37
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